Palace of Fine Arts Lagoon
The Presidio was one of the stops I’d planned to make this trip, and the Palace of Fine Arts on the Eastern edge was having some sort of festival. One of the participants was the Golden Gate Audubon Society, which was doing bird walks around the lagoon so I decided to start there. The trip was led by Harry Fuller.
It’s always helpful to have more eyes (we had about 17) and local help. In just a little over an hour we had 25 species (three more than I’d managed in twice that time earlier in Golden Gate Park) including one I would have had a hard time identifying on my own (2nd year immature California Gull). He also assured me that all the Selasphorus hummingbirds I was seeing were Allen’s, not Rufous. I very likely would have missed the Northern Rough-winged Swallow too without his help.
Total species count was 25:
- Canada Goose
- Mute Swan
- Muscovy Duck
- Mallard
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Black-crowned Night-Heron
- American Coot
- California Gull
- Western Gull
- Rock Pigeon
- Allen’s Hummingbird
- Western Scrub-Jay
- American Crow
- Common Raven
- Tree Swallow
- Violet-green Swallow
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow
- Barn Swallow
- American Robin
- European Starling
- Western Tanager
- Song Sparrow
- Brewer’s Blackbird
- House Sparrow
Following the walk, I got some tips about where to go next in the Presidio and what to look for. Next stop: Crissy Field.
